by Mel Sherratt
‘Even Storm Monica was against us last night,’ said Sean. ‘The wind was noisy and not as many people would have been out. Those that were would have had their heads down, going home as quickly as possible, unable to notice things they might have seen had the weather been calmer.’ He checked his watch. ‘Let’s see how we go over the next couple of hours. I want all hands on deck once the press conference is done, see if we can find any leads.’ He looked at Eden then the group as a whole.
‘Let’s bring Jess home, people.’
Chapter Fifty-Six
Although she wanted to go back to be with her family, Eden knew she’d be more use to the investigation if she was close to it, and as Casey was with Laura, she didn’t have to worry about her.
The door to Sean’s office was open, but she knocked anyway before walking in. ‘Can I join you at the press conference?’ she asked.
‘Of course. I’ll also speak to DCI Benton,’ said Sean, referring to his superior officer, ‘but we need to take this up another level. You know that, don’t you?’
Eden could barely bring herself to nod her acceptance. How had it come to this: her niece being kidnapped because of her sister?
‘Do we have any idea what the connection is between his daughter and your sister?’ Sean sat with steepled fingers.
‘Nothing that Laura can think of, apart from that she used to talk to her on the chatline.’ Eden shook her head. ‘She told me she keeps the notepads that she uses at work in a locked cupboard. It might be worth going through those to see if there’s anything useful anywhere, a mention of something that might lead us to Jason Proctor. We’re also chasing phone records for the charity, to see if we can pinpoint his address through Ashleigh’s phone records. I’m going to get in touch with Josie Mellor too. See if she can find out anything on her system. He must be known to someone, somewhere.’
‘And in the meantime we wait for him to contact Laura again.’
Eden gulped. She felt so helpless.
‘Do you want to stay with Laura, after the conference? I can assign you to her house, like an unofficial family liaison officer, if it would make you feel better about being the first to give her updates.’
Eden sat back in her chair, her body flopping. ‘I can’t do that, sir. I want to be with her, of course, but I need to be doing something. I need to be working with my team to find this. . . this bastard.’ Her voice broke, but she regained her composure quickly. ‘Find out why he has Jess. Find him so we can bring her home.’
‘We’ll piece it together soon.’ Sean sat quietly for a moment. ‘Why don’t you take Amy and nip across to have a look in the offices of CrisisChat?’
‘Yes, sir.’
CrisisChat was three streets away from the police station, so she and Amy headed out on foot. Laura had given her the key and access to the alarm code, so getting in the building didn’t take long. Eden almost ran up the three flights of stairs, taking a moment to catch her breath at the top before going into the office.
She flicked on the lights and glanced around the drab room. The charity had done its best, but it was an old building and it showed. High ceilings made it feel cold, along with cream-painted walls and high skirting boards and, she guessed, draughty windows. Eden thought how depressing it must be to come to work there every evening. Again she felt proud of her sister and what she did.
Laura had told her to look in the second cupboard on the right. She unlocked it with a small key. There were five shelves inside, each full of notepads dating back to 2000. Laura’s shelf was one from the bottom, so she bent down and picked up a pile of notepads. When she had found the few dating back six months to around the time Ashleigh Proctor had committed suicide, she passed two to Amy, took the other two and sat down at a desk.
‘Laura says she probably uses a notepad on average every month, so if we look around April 2015 first and then we can move earlier than that to see if there are any clues around Ashleigh. She says they don’t take down many details as everything needs to be confidential, but they do keep these notebooks for a couple of years.’
Eden opened the first one.
‘Do we know what we might be looking for?’ asked Amy, leafing through the pages.
Eden shrugged. ‘Laura said she doodles a lot. See if you can find the word “Ashleigh” written anywhere.’
They sat in silence as they flicked through the books. ‘Here’s one, dated 7 April,’ said Eden, her heart skipping a beat as she read over the page. But then she blew out her breath. ‘There’s nothing we can use. Just notes about how she’s feeling.’
‘Here’s another, 14 April.’ Amy passed it to Eden, who shook her head and threw it to the floor.
Several minutes later after the first few had been discarded, Amy looked at Eden as she sighed.
‘Nothing?’ she queried.
‘Nothing. It’s all so fucking useless!’
‘It isn’t,’ said Amy. ‘You know how we piece together every tiny item until they join up. We might find a tidbit of info and crack the case.’
‘But Jess is missing – she might never be seen again.’
‘It’s not like you to be so defeatist.’
‘You don’t know the half of my life.’ She opened her mouth to speak but decided better of it. She’d already said too much.
‘Do you mind if I ask you something, Sarge?’
Eden had managed to keep the details around Danny to herself since he had disappeared. She knew people had talked about his swift exit when it had filtered through the station eventually – and the fact that she had remained close-lipped about it for a long time since.
‘You want to know more about Danny?’ Eden bristled. ‘Office gossip not enough for you?’
Amy blushed. ‘I – I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just that you and your sister seem so close. I was wondering if this was because you could empathise with her over losing someone you loved.’
Eden concentrated on the page she was flicking over for a moment before looking up again. ‘Danny left of his own accord. One morning he was there, and when I got home in the evening he had gone. At least when my brother-in-law, Neil, was killed there was closure for Laura. I’m left wondering all the time.’
Eden felt a sense of betrayal as she talked about Danny, especially after seeing his telephone number stored on Laura’s phone. But she also felt the need to talk, to tell someone who wasn’t family a few things that kept her awake at night.
‘Danny disappeared two years ago now, and yes, it still hangs over me. He sold his car, cleared out our bank account, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.’
It had been hard for Eden to tell the people close to her that Danny had upped and left, but the longer it went on, the more she realised he wouldn’t be coming back. For months she had tried to track him down, but there had been nothing. There was still nothing, which was frustrating to say the least given her role. Except for the pile of debt that he had landed her with. Things she hadn’t known anything about, like the online gambling, which had only come to light when bills had come in for him. Twice she’d had bailiffs at the door – luckily she’d been able to prove that her name wasn’t on the debt, but she lived in fear of every visit.
It had been quiet now for six months. Yet it still irked her that he would walk out on his wife and child without saying a word, disappearing more or less into thin air.
‘He was a shit to just up and leave.’ She waved a hand for dismissal.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Amy.
Eden shrugged. ‘It’s okay. It never really goes away. I do wonder where he is and what he’s doing. Why he felt the need to leave without an explanation.’ She stopped this time before she really did say too much. She didn’t want anyone to know the exact reason why Danny had left.
They sat in silence while they flicked through the rest of the entries in the notepads for April, but there was nothing. They tried a few more, back to the start of 2015 but still nothing.
With a sig
h, Eden locked up the offices and they went back to the station. The press conference would be starting shortly. Maybe that would bring in more clues, sightings, whatever it took.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
The press conference was set up in a room downstairs in the main belly of the station. It was a small square room with a long table on one side and two rows of chairs for journalists and press officers. A camera was set up at the back of the room.
Eden was apprehensive about the outcome of the gathering. She had been involved in many press conferences but had never been in the situation before where she knew the victim so well. Never been in a position where she had known a victim at all. Her heart pounded in her chest. All she wanted was for someone to ring in with information that would lead them straight to Jess.
Sean cleared his throat and looked into the camera. The buzz around the room silenced.
‘My name is DI Sean Whittaker and my team are looking into the disappearance of sixteen-year-old Jessica Mountford. She was taken last night, Friday, 15 October at approximately 1800 hours. She was last seen on CCTV footage being bundled into the back of a white Volkswagen van against her will, registration number V39 ETA. If you know of this van’s whereabouts or you think you might have seen it recently, please contact the number that will be flashing across the bottom of your screen. Anything big or small could be vital.
‘Jessica Mountford is approximately five foot seven inches tall, slim with long blonde hair. She was wearing jeans, a black jacket and boots. Her hair would more than likely have been tucked under a black woollen hat. The weather was pretty atrocious last night, but if you were out near to Shop&Save, the large superstore on the high street, please cast your mind back. Did you see anything suspicious?
‘I also urge everyone to check any outbuildings – sheds, garages, outhouses – in case Jessica managed to get free and is hiding out. We’re obviously not certain why she has been taken at this stage, but we do know that the man who has her claims to be Jason Proctor. We are unable to confirm his address at this moment in time, so any help from the public about his whereabouts would be appreciated. If you do know Jason, please be warned that he may be unstable, so again I urge you to contact the police. Do not approach him.
‘Jason Proctor is of medium build and appears to be in his early forties. Our enquiries are continuing today, and I would urge anybody with any information about the incident who has not already spoken to officers to contact us. We would be grateful to the public for any information they can provide to help bring Jessica back safe and well and reunite her with her family. Thank you.’
Once the conference was over, Eden followed Sean back to the room to help man the phones. Her phone would have been switched to the helpline number. Others were already ringing and three officers were taking down notes from calls. It was always like this during the first hour after a live press conference, with people wanting their two minutes of glory, hoping to have spotted something that would lead to an arrest. Most of the calls amounted to nothing, and they would slow down eventually, but for now they all had to be treated as if they could hold vital clues. In all fairness, they could do.
Eden took her mobile phone off silent and checked to see if she had any messages. There was one from Laura to say that she had seen the press conference but nothing else connected to the investigation. Same with her emails – everyone was waiting on information from other people.
A couple of hours manning the lines while the calls came in thick and fast would keep her mind from working overtime and imagining the worst.
Across the city, Jason Proctor stood up and paced the room. He’d sat open mouthed as he’d watched the press conference. The girl had begun to cry again when she had seen her photo and the police talking about her.
‘Fuck!’
This was never meant to happen. Damn the police. Things shouldn’t have escalated so quickly.
He needed to speak to the girl’s mother, but it had to be tomorrow. Then he could follow through with the rest of his plan on Monday – on Ashleigh’s birthday.
He’d better start to think of an alternative backup plan, just in case he had to move the girl quickly.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
After an hour hearing nothing but time-wasters and no leads, Eden left the other officers to it. A few things had come up that they had actioned for the morning, but other than that things had gone quiet. She decided to go and see Laura, give her an update on everything so far.
Casey opened the door. ‘Any news, Mum?’ she asked as she hugged her.
Eden ran a hand over her daughter’s hair. ‘Nothing yet, princess. But we’re working on it.’
‘I saw you on the television.’ Casey couldn’t help but beam. ‘You look so trendy in your Doc Martens and parka.’
Eden gave her a half smile. Casey never missed commenting on what her mum was wearing whenever she caught her on television. Although she’d made her sound like a teenager, in actual fact her parka had come from French Connection and had cost a small fortune.
She could hear noise in the kitchen so she went through. There were five women in there, three sitting round the table and two washing and drying mugs at the sink.
‘Hi, Eden,’ said Josie, as she pulled out a chair. ‘Any news yet?’
Eden shook her head.
‘Want a cup of tea?’
‘Yes please.’
Josie flicked on the kettle as another woman pressed a piece of paper into Eden’s hands.
‘We’ve compiled another list for you, but we’re about done for the day now it’s gone dark. Is there anything else you’d like us to do?’
‘Not for now, but thanks, Maxine. You’ve all been such a great help. I’ll have a look through this and then get my team onto it in the morning. There could be vital information in there somewhere.’
Eden wanted to raise the women’s spirits even though she knew most of it would come to nothing.
‘I’ll come back in the morning,’ said Josie. ‘We can start off where we finished. I’m sure there will be lots for us to do.’
‘But it’s Sunday.’
‘And?’
Eden nodded her thanks. Josie had been such a help, organising the women, getting any information to her team straightaway, jotting down anything that needed following up.
She was just about to speak when there was a voice from behind.
‘For God’s sake, it’s eight o’clock in the evening. Jess has been missing since six o’clock last night!’
Eden turned to see Laura standing in the doorway. Her eyes were raw from crying, her face gaunt as she hugged herself.
‘I’ve had a house full of people all day and now you’re coming back and telling me everything and nothing in one breath?’
‘We’re doing all we can to help you,’ Eden replied, frustrated by her tone. ‘The least you can do is show your gratitude that people have put themselves out to help you.’
‘I am grateful,’ said Laura. ‘But I need some space. What would happen if it was Casey that had gone missing? You’d be the same, Eden, and don’t you dare tell me different.’ She stared at her sister before addressing the room. ‘Out, please. All of you.’
‘But, Laura, we can—’ Maxine started.
Laura picked up the nearest coffee mug and slung it across the room at the wall. It smashed into smithereens, the last remnants of the coffee dripping down the wallpaper. She sank to the floor at the same time.
‘I just want to see Jess home,’ she whispered.
Eden rushed across to her, took her in her arms and ushered everyone out of the kitchen.
‘Mum?’ Sarah wavered in the doorway. Eden shook her head, and she left to sit with Casey in the living room.
Once the door was closed and they were alone, Eden let a few of her own tears fall as her sister sobbed. Jess was such a huge part of their family, and she loved her as if she were her own daughter. She couldn’t let Jason Proctor get away with this. He wouldn’t tear he
r family apart.
Even though they were doing all they could, she knew to Laura it wouldn’t be enough. It didn’t seem enough to her, but she knew that every officer available in the area would be working on this case. They would be looking out for Jess.
She sniffed long and hard, trying to compose herself. She needed to keep up a brave facade to help her sister. Crying with her would show solidarity, but it wouldn’t do Laura any good. She would go to pieces if she knew how scared Eden was. How terrified she was that Proctor would harm Jess. He seemed hell-bent on revenge. Revenge was different than grief. Revenge was built of more than anger. Revenge was meant to hurt, maim – kill even.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to rid herself of the image of her niece lying dead somewhere that they hadn’t looked yet. Even though everyone locally had been asked to check their sheds and outbuildings and garages, not everyone read or listened to the news. The police couldn’t cover all the city, and they had wasted a lot of time chasing after Deanna Barker’s family on a dead-end lead.
She shut the thought out of her mind and returned to police mode. She could cry later when she was on her own – and when they had Jess back safe and sound.
‘Where is she, Eden?’ Laura said, a few minutes later.
‘I don’t know.’ Eden placed her hand on her sister’s head, rubbing at her hair the way Laura used to try and soothe her as a child.
‘Why can’t you do more?’
‘We’re doing everything we can.’
‘But you haven’t found her, and you’re the police. If the police can’t—’
‘We’ll find her.’
‘But what if you can’t?’